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PIMCO Ratings Maintained

The recent announcement that PIMCO's co-founder and co-CIO Bill Gross is to leave the company is the latest in a series of pieces of bad news for the firm. It follows a spell of poor performance and outflows from PIMCO's flagship Total Return fund and the announcement this week that the SEC are investigating returns on one of PIMCO's exchange-traded funds.

Victoria Hasler, Senior Investment Research Analyst said: The Square Mile Academy of Funds includes two PIMCO funds, namely the PIMCO Select UK Income fund and the Allianz Gilt Yield fund (sold under the Allianz brand but managed by PIMCO). Both are run out of London by the highly experienced and well regarded Mike Amey. We see no reason to change our ratings on these funds as a result of the news.

Whilst the funds use the PIMCO process, and in particular the output from the Secular Investment Forum chaired by Mr Gross, both funds are UK focused and managed using the experience and expertise of the European investment team. It should also be noted that PIMCO has, over the years, attracted the highest calibre of investment professionals and we have no reason to doubt that the debate, discussion and output from PIMCO's investment team will not suffer as a result of Mr Gross' departure.

At this juncture, we have every confidence in Mike Amey's continued ability to manage these funds to a very high standard and to meet his investment objectives. We reiterate our A rating on the Allianz Gilt Yield fund and our AA rating on the PIMCO Select UK Income fund, though we shall continue to monitor developments with interest.